


Piece by Piece

by OlicityBishop_Clairmont



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: One Shot, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-01
Updated: 2018-06-01
Packaged: 2019-05-16 18:24:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14816513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OlicityBishop_Clairmont/pseuds/OlicityBishop_Clairmont
Summary: An Olicity Songfic of Kelly Clarkson's "Piece by Piece"





	Piece by Piece

Felicity is seven when her father leaves them. She comes home from her after school program to find her mother red-eyed and make-up free in their apartment, even though flciity was sure she was supposed to be on shift right now. When she asks her mother what’s wrong, she tells her.

“Daddy went away, baby.”

Felicity was confused. “Do you know when he’ll be back?” He needed to help her finish building that computer, after all.

“No, sweetie. I don’t think he’s ever coming back.”

He doesn’t. She finishes the computer by herself.

 

> _And all I remember is your back_  
>  _Walking towards the airport, leaving us all in your past_  
>  _I traveled fifteen hundred miles to see you_  
>  _I begged you to want me, but you didn’t want to_

When Felicity sees her father again, she’s an adult. He shows up at ther office at Queen Consolidated. He says he’d like to talk to her. Something about owing her an explanation and apology. He owes her a lot more than that.

0o0o0

When Felicity meets Oliver Queen, she’s coming off a nearly three-day network breach. Someone, someone good, had attempted to steal proprietary information from QC’s servers, mostly targeting the Applied Sciences division. If the hacker had been successful, they would have taken tens of millions of dollars worth of QC property and information, which would have run the company into the ground. But, with some help, Felicity was able to stop the hack. Her supervisor had just given her permission to head home and take the next day pff for her exemplary work. Grabbing her purse, Felicity was only able to walk a single step before someone called her name.

“Felicity Smoak?”

Her back still facing whoever asked for her, Felicity closed her eyes in resignation. She might as well start living in this damn office for all the time she spends here. Maybe she should move that filing cabinet out of the way to make for a hammock or something. Then she’s be able to sleep here too. Mustering up what little energy she has left, she turns to the person in her doorway, already speaking.

“Yes? How can I help y-?” Her question cuts off abruptly when she notices exactly who it is in her office. None other than Oliver Queen, newly appointed CEO.

“Uh… Mr. Queen! How can I help you…sir?”

She is standing in front of Oliver Queen in yesterday’s clothes, her favorite panda flats, her hair coming out of her ponytail and her eyes red and strained from exhaustion. In short, she’s a mess. And Oliver Queen, standing there in his dark grey suit and blue tie that _really_ brings out his eyes, is… decidedly not a mess.

“Oh, please, Ms. Smoak. Mr. Queen is my father. Call me Oliver.”

“Uh, sure… Oliver.”

“I wanted to catch you before you left and offer my personal thanks for foiling the security breach to QC’s network. According to your supervisor, we would have been sunk if it hadn’t been for you.”

“I was just doing my job, si- uh, Oliver. I just so happen to be pretty good at it.”

“Good? I’d say remarkable.”

She could feel a blush heating her cheeks slightly.

“Thank you for remarking on it.”

“If you’ll permit me, I have a car waiting outside the lobby to take you home. You’ve been here for nearly three days straight; I’m not sure if it’s safe for you to be driving.”

Under normal circumstances, Felicity would have declined, but she could feel herself beginning to sway on her feet. She was smart enough to realize that getting behind the wheel of a car might not be the best idea right now.

“Thank you, Oliver. I really do appreciate that. But what about my car?”

“I’ll have my bodyguard follow you home. If you like I can give him your keys.”

Felicity handed them over, and followed him down to where the car was located. She knew exactly what she would do when she got home. Her bathtub was calling her name, along with a bottle of wine and that pint of mint chip she kept in her freezer for special occasions.

But first, she had a phone call to make.

 

> _But piece by piece, he collected me up_  
>  _Off the ground, where you abandoned things_  
>  _Piece by piece he filled the holes that you burned in me_  
>  _Six years old and you know_  
>  _He never walks away_

Alone in her house after the car had dropped her off, with her own car in her driveway, she calls his number.

“Why did you do it?” she asks immediately. She doesn’t say hello, doesn’t tell him how she found out where he was. She suspects he may have let her find him.

“A client paid me quite a lot of money to hack Queen Consolidated’s firewalls and procure their files for sale to the highest bidder.”

“And me? You had to have done your research. You knew I worked there. Is that why you wanted to meet again?”

“No, Felicity… Yes, I knew you worked there but I came to see YOU because you DID deserve an explanation. And an apology. One had nothing to do with the other. I didn’t come to see you for any other reason than that.”

“Would you have ever contacted me if that client didn’t give you a job in Starling City?”

She could hear him sigh on the other end of the line. “No. I don’t think I would have. Your life was better off without me. But this job just seemed like a sign that I should have at least tried.”

Felicity was silent. Despite already knowing what his answer would be, it still hurt to hear it.

“Felicity? Are you still there?”

“Yeah. I’m still here.” Her eyes close. This will be the hardest thing she has ever done. He continues speaking.

“I just want you to know… I am so, so very sorry.”

She doesn’t say anything for a moment. Then she hears it, faint because it’s coming through the phone at his location. But the sound is unmistakable.

The sound of police sirens arriving at his location.

“I’m sorry too, Dad. Goodbye.”

She hangs up. Felicity knows he wouldn’t have time to run. She had called the police before she even called him. Wiping a few tears from her face, Felicity finished her glass of wine and climbed into bed in her snuggliest pajamas, her belly full of ice cream and hair still damp from her shower. Before closing her eyes, she turned off her alarm. She had a day off tomorrow, and she planned on using that day to do absolutely nothing. But maybe she should call her mom. She’d know what to say. 

 

> _He never asks for money_  
>  _He takes care of me_  
>  _He loves me_  
>  _Piece by piece, he restores my faith_  
>  _That a man can be kind and the father could, stay_

When she comes back in to work, there’s a small vase of flowers on her desk. Beautiful, but small enough to fit on her desk and not look conspicuous. There was a note attached, which read,

_Again, I wanted to thank you. Also, would you mind coming up to see me in my office at 3:00 pm today? There’s something I would like to discuss with you._

It was signed by Oliver Queen.

What could he possibly want with her? He’d already said thank you. But Felicity went up to his office. He was her boss’s boss’s boss after all. However, upon arriving, she was surprised to see not only Oliver, but Walter Steele there as well. Under normal circumstances, Felicity would be worried that she was going to be fired, but considering she had essentially saved the company just over a day ago, she had a feeling this would be about something a little more positive. She was right. Apparently, Oliver would be moving into a more hands-on position with the Applied Sciences division, and he needed someone smart that he could trust to help him streamline the development process on some of the projects. Would she be interested? After gaping like a fish for a moment, Felicity agreed on the spot. She was moved into her new office by the end of the day, and made sure that the little vase of flowers was on proud display on her desk.

 

> _And all of your words fall flat_  
>  _I made something of myself and now you wanna come back_  
>  _But your love, it isn’t free, it has to be earned_  
>  _Back then I didn’t have anything you needed so I was worthless_

Felicity confesses to Oliver when they’re working late one night. Months after they began working together, Queen Consolidated is doing much better and investors are very interested to see what Applied Sciences is developing. Felicity handles the technical aspects and Oliver the business and marketing to make sure the product will actually sell. After trying and failing for the fifth time to get this one algorithm to compile, Felicity shoves her tablet away and places her head in her hands. She needs a break. And considering that Oliver has been looking at the same piece of paper for the last fifteen minutes, so does he. They order Italian, eating it together in the lounge area of his office, away from their project. The conversation flows freely, and soon they broach the topic of parents. Normally, she’d avoid speaking about her family, but something makes Felicity tell him. About her father and how he left. About hearing from him years later only to find out that he was trying to break in to Queen Consolidated. How she figured out it had been him. And how she had called the police on him. Oliver then asked her, “Do you know where he is now?”

She nodded. “He was convicted of his crimes here in Starling City. He’s just started his nine-year sentence in Iron Heights.” Felicity looked down at her meal, suddenly no longer hungry. But then Oliver did something she didn’t expect. He placed his hand on hers, causing her to look back up at him. Honesty shone in his eyes when he said, “I’m sorry your father did that to you. But it doesn’t change my opinion of you, if you were worried about that. You are still the same brilliant, loyal, hard-working, funny, amazing tech genius that I am proud to work beside and call my friend. You may have gotten your intelligence level from your father, but you’ve turned it into something all your own.”

Felicity felt tears coming to her eyes. No one had ever spoken so highly of her before. Flipping her hand over and grasping his in return, she squeezed it gently in gratitude.

“Thank you Oliver. You don’t know what it means to me to hear you say that.”

 

> _But piece by piece, he collected me up_  
>  _Off the ground, where you abandoned things_  
>  _Piece by piece he filled the holes that you burned in me_  
>  _Six years old and you know_  
>  _He never walks away_

Something changed between them after that evening. They began seeing each other outside of work, meeting for coffee, sometimes lunches. Until he asked her to dinner. At a nice restaurant. And they didn’t talk about work. Gradually, Felicity began to realize that this might very well be a date. Not wanting to draw the wrong conclusion, Felicity simply asked him, “Oliver, is this a work dinner or a date?”

She could tell her question had surprised him by the deer-in-headlights look on his face. He cleared his throat nervously and asked her, “Do you want this to be a date?”

Felicity raised an eyebrow. Caught, Oliver smiled sheepishly, but then his face morphed into a more serious expression. "Felicity, I like you. A lot. We’ve become such good friends these past few months, and in that time I’ve also begun to develop feelings for you. I’d like to see if this…us…could go somewhere.”

She smiled at him and replied, “That is the best idea you’ve ever had.”

 

>   
>  _He never asks for money_  
>  _He takes care of me_  
>  _‘Cause he loves me_  
>  _Piece by piece, he restored my faith_  
>  _That a man can be kind and a father could, stay_

Oliver and Felicity became a couple. The dating became more serious, parents were met, and those three important words were exchanged. And slowly but surely, the void Felicity had at not having her father around, that feeling of something missing, went away. With Oliver and the life she had with him, she felt complete.

 

> _Piece by piece I fell far from the tree_  
>  _I will never leave her like you left me_  
>  _And she will never have to wonder her worth_  
>  _Because unlike you I’m going to put her first and you know_  
>  _He’ll never walk away_

The next time Felicity thought of her father was on her wedding day. She was waiting for her que to start walking down the aisle to the man she loved. Her mom came up beside her, slipping her arm though her daughter’s. Felicity could see she’d been crying a bit.

“Mom? What is it?”

“Oh, nothing, baby girl. I just… I just wish your father could have been here.”

Felicity nudged her mother to get her to look at her. “Mom, there is no one else I would want walking me down the aisle today. You raised me. You were both mom and dad, and you are beside me because you deserve to be.” A moment later, the music began playing and Felicity and her mother walked toward her beloved Oliver, ready to start their lives together. 

 

> _He’ll never break her heart_  
>  _He’ll take care of things, he’ll love her_  
>  _Piece by piece, he restored my faith_  
>  _That a man can be kind and the father should be great_

The last time Felicity really thinks about her father, she’s watching Oliver hold their newborn daughter in the hospital after she gives birth. And he is looking at that tiny bundle with such love and awe on his face. The certainty settles deep into Felicity’s bones. Oliver will be a better father than hers ever was. As she looks at the two most important people in her life with an exhausted smile on her face, it is in that moment that she realizes all the pieces of herself she thought were gone, never really left. Oliver found her, and helped her put herself back together. Piece by piece. 


End file.
